Local WWII and Korean War Veterans needed to preserve history

A group in York County is working hard to preserve history and they need help from local veterans. The group is looking for veterans from any county who served during WWII or the Korean War.

Anthony Stabile is a veteran who is decorated as the walls in his home. He served during several wars. “The latter part of WWII, the Korean War and Vietnam,” said Capt. Anthony Stabile, retired USMC. “Every base was surrounded in Vietnam, every base. At night time they would mortar, and try to infiltrate, and get in. In one case there was a bridge our outfit, the tank battalion and they blew the bridge up and it killed a couple of marines,” said Capt. Stabile.

It’s stories like this, both good and bad, that he wanted to share for the Veterans History Project. “I did a lot of things for this country and I think somebody should hear what I did,” said Capt. Stabile.

“If you were on the front lines what type of combat did you experience?” said Stephanie Knaper as she read one of the questions veterans are asked during their interview. Knaper and Dave Sunday both work at the York County Courthouse. Knaper is a Court Stenographer and Sunday is an Assistant District Attorney. ”

Two days are scheduled for interviews: September 26th and October 3rd The interviews will be conducted at the York County Courthouse. Both are on a committee in charge of finding veterans for the project.

“We were trying to get 60 veterans, and to date we only have about 25,” said Knaper.

“As sad as it is, we have two of the people that were signed up to give us their stories pass away in the last few weeks. I guess that is sort of a testament to we need to get this done sooner than later,” said Sunday.

Sunday said they need more local veterans to tell their stories and help preserve history. “Every story lost is a history that we won’t ever be able to understand,” said Sunday.

Veterans are sent a list of questions before their interview so they can prepare. The interviews have to be 30 minutes in duration and they have to be 20 pages long. If there’s any pictures submitted with the transcript they have to be original pictures.

The National Court Reporters Association took on this project a few years ago. “Interviewers that ask questions of the veteran take down in steno graph what they are saying,” said Knaper.

For more information or to help, call Stephanie Knaper (717) 771-9320.

8 comments

Pamela Holcomb

My father (Bobby Gene Holcomb) passed away a couple of years ago. However, he was a POW for almost 3 years during the Korean war. He was 17 when he was captured. When he got home he told his story to his sister. She wrote it down. I now have a roughly 30 page biography of his time as a POW. Would you be interested in a copy of that?

Roy Isbell

It’s been a couple of years since I last transcribed one of these for the Library of Congress. But you should be able to submit the transcript yourself. It is expected that these interviews follow a certain format, but I see no reason that your transcript shouldn’t be included for preservation. Please go to this site:http://www.loc.gov/vets/kit.html

Judy Hawn

My husband, Jim Hawn, enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1945 when he was a senior at York Catholic High School ,and ,like so many of his classmates received his diploma in absentia, By some irony he wound up serving in Brazil rather than Europe or Japan. By another irony, both he and his Dad, the late Charles Hawn, were BOTH called back during the Korean Conflict.

Perhaps giving our Veterans the help they deserve and need would be a better “project”. Asking more of them when most have been ignored for years is a bit selfish. My father did 3 tours in vietnam and never got the help he needed. Maybe the NCRA should be calling on the veterans admin. to do their jobs first.

Contact the Lebanon VAMC public affairs office; I’m sure they would be willing to assist with something like this. There are plenty of vets being treated as inpatients on hospice and nursing home units that would probably love to tell their stories (and to have a visitor) before they pass.

Tutt Lambert

I had a book published by Little Miami Publishers, Milford, OH 45150, that told the story of the 822nd Engineer Aviation Battalion (SCARWAF), entitled, The Men of K-2 in the Forgotten War. This group of Army engineers were stationed on Okinawa when the war began and were immediately shipped to Korea in order to build airfields for our Air Force who had no engineers at that time. The unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their many distinguished efforts – including being ambushed by North Koreans. The term SCARWAF simply means, Special Category Army Reassigned With Air Force. The unit was responsible for building, rehabbing or destroying several airfields in Korea from Pusan to Pyongyang, North Korea. Included are details of the 160 aircraft lost from K-2 where most of the written record takes place.

guest

I’ve done more than my share for the elderly, visiting the nursing home regularly for years. Many veterans want to talk about their experiences and are grateful for the opportunity to be heard. Not to mention the importance of preserving history.